Fabulous Final Fantasy Franchise Discussion Catch-all

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Mixing Good Whisky with Bad Rum, in the spiritual realm of Frarkin Frogohs Frapulisim

Hey there boys and girls. The JRPG thread is continuously hi-jacked by us FF fans with our rankings of favorites in the series, our praise for Sakaguchi, Amano, Uematsu, even Kitase by some, our love for the music, the worlds, the characters, the ports, the spinoffs, the stand-alones, the handhelds, the tactics.

I found it fitting to create this thread, and also surprised it didn´t exist already. I think it´d be nice to leave the people over at the JRPG thread to enjoy their discussions while we can focus on this acclaimed franchise.

So, whether you´re anxious for Noctis and FFXV, or replaying old classics either for the first time or for nostalgia´s sake, speak up! Let us know what you´re up to! Trying to 100% FFVIII´s card game? Catching fiends in FFX? Opening the gift in FFIV? Getting Mog for the infamous Moogle Charm? Got FFVII on the Steam Sale?

Hell, do you hate the franchise? Since always? Just recently? Just it´s new direction? Is it new? Fire away!

Mixing Good Whisky with Bad Rum, in the spiritual realm of Frarkin Frogohs Frapulisim

That´s as good a place to start as any. You´re absolutely right. After the Steam Sale, may people got FFVII. Let´s see how they fair. I know Stele is doing a new run on FFVI. I´m finishing a run for FFX, stat-maxing for the first time. I hate that game. I´ll probably sink into FFVII soon. I want those steam achievements!

I'm going to be skipping Lightning Returns, I'm afraid. It'll be the first main series game I haven't at least tried. I liked FFXIII but couldn't finish it due to being stuck on a boss, and I hated FFXIII-2. I may waffle later on this, but I don't think playing the third game without finishing either of the prequels is likely to produce good results.

How does ffxiii fare once you finally get to that first huge open plain (where the lumbering adamantoise appear)?

It's certainly an improvement, but bear in mind that there's also further corridor/linear sections beyond that point as well. FFXIII-2 did a much better job of feeling less on-rails, and I enjoyed that a lot more...

On the topic of FFVII, I was tempted during the Steam Sale, but I really do think that we've all got extremely high-prescription nostalgia-goggles on regarding that game, and functionally, it's going to be nothing but a disappointment. Game design has come a long way since it was released, and the intervening time hasn't been kind to it.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

You've never known true joy until you've shaken a lich stick at someone.

Probably should try Tactics sometime as I enjoy Fire Emblem and Disgaea. And I really should get around to the PS1/2 ones I missed by not having those systems. If they ever had them for sale on PSN on the PS3 I would probably snatch them up. I know XIII and XIII-2 are cheap now, about $20 sometimes. But I heard such bad things about XIII but better things about 2, but I'm just torn on playing the 2nd without the first.

Played:
Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest
Final Fantasy III (DS)
Final Fantasy IV (Made it to final boss)
Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy IX (Made it to final area, really wanna beat this)
Final Fantasy: Chrystal Chronicles
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Final Fantasy XI (Played for 7 years)
Final Fantasy XII (Made it to final boss)
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy XIV (Still play)
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy: Crystal Defenders

FF: Theatrhythm is a must-play for serious fans of the series, I think. If that description fits you and you have a 3DS I can't think of a good reason to ignore it. I can't speak to the quality of the iOS port, though I hear good things.

I have played FF1-FF13, Tactics and Mystic Quest as well. I liked the most 4, 6, 7, 8, 12, and Tactics. For my tastes FF13 was the worst and a complete train wreck. If they don't seriously change direction, I am done with the franchise. I didn't even finish the game. I will say the the E3 footage of 15 looked interesting, but after 13, I will wait until I actually see it before making a choice of whether or not to buy.

12 was a good changed, but mostly because of the action RPG approach, if I take that away I haven't really liked the series in a long time. However, without my nostalgic glasses on, there are many other RPG series that I care more about.

I've played and beaten every single main-numbered (aside from the mmo's) FF game. Most of them I've played through numerous times. I also played through the Game Boy SaGa games (the Final Fantasy Legend franchise in the US) and Seiken Densetsu I (Final Fantasy Adventure); all of those numerous times.

The only one in the series that I wasn't entirely happy with while playing through was Final Fantasy XIII. I'm hoping FFXV doesn't suffer the same problems for me.

Mixing Good Whisky with Bad Rum, in the spiritual realm of Frarkin Frogohs Frapulisim

I wish I still had the link. Someone over at, I think, the JRPG thread, posted a letter exchange between two game journalists I think it was, one a fan from FFVII, and another who had never played. It was a really cool read, and definitely gets you pumped and wanting to revisit that world.

I love final fantasy games, but not being a console user in the retro generations and not owning a playstation in later generations has definitely taken a toll. Still, I have a dream of playing and beating all the games before I die.

And as for FFVII expectations, I think the game holds up just fine as long as you keep those nostalgia glasses off -- especially when you consider how many other PS1 games are completely unplayable these days.

I've only ever beaten the two gba final fantasy and final fantasy VIII. I sort of beat X with a friend but I didn't see all of it.

On that note I'm a huge fan of VIII. Then again I often here it's the first final fantasy you play that you truly enjoy. That being said I tried all of them except anything past X. VI was very good but it just got to grindy and I stopped playing. I couldn't stand VII. IX was interesting but not my taste.

Personally I think the suikoden series were better overall. I beat like the first four of those. While live a live is my favorite rpg period.

One thing that about final fantasy is that they stories can be rather deep and interesting, but if you think about it to much they tend to have huge plot holes and all sorts of other issues. Still fir the first time I'm optimistic about a new final fantasy. XV looks quite interesting and a rather large departure from the norm. Should be interesting.

I didn't finish X-2 because my memory card died about 50 hours in, and I was too discouraged to start over =/
I never made it past the 7 or 8 hour mark in FFXII. The combat just couldn't keep me interested.
I have XIII sitting on my pile still. I may get to it one day.
Despite not playing or finishing the last several titles, I am very excited by what has been shown of FFXV.

Since I don't think I've ever ranked them here, my list would probably go something like 7, 6, 10, 9, 5, 10-2, 4, 8, 12 with Tactics somewhere in the top 3 spots if included. 7 was the game that got me into RPGs, so I don't think any new entry can eclipse that nostalgia.

I just fired up FFVII on steam, and the music is a real turn off. I don't know why they decided to "tweak" it. The original is so superior. It really is off putting. Also, they changed the controls, and it's really annoying figuring out what is what. The original shoulder buttons that would serve as escaping (both at the same time) and also for fast scrolling up/down, are now separate functions, and not in the same button.

Still though, it's a great game. I made it out of the church in the sector 5 slums with Aeris, but I'm thinking of leaving it there, and just playing my original PS1 game on the PS3.

Only Played:
II
IV
V
XIII
XIV Reborn Beta
And if it counts: Vagrant Story

Either It Beat Me, or I Beat It:
XI

kexx wrote:

I just fired up FFVII on steam, and the music is a real turn off. I don't know why they decided to "tweak" it.

This...seems blasphemous. I know people sneer when Uematsu gets dropped in discussions of great game composers, but you know what? People mention him because it's f*cking true. One of the most resonant moments in games, I maintain, is emerging from Midgar, and it's the FFVII theme that sells the moment. The man squeezed every last drop of blood from the stone of PS1 audio.

And while I'm feeling combative, I feel the notion of rose-colored glasses needs to be put to bed, then smothered with a pillow. Yeah, if VII came out today I might not like it. But, instead, it came out at a time when I didn't expect games to do the things it did, and it established a sensation that I've come to realize I get from my favorite games--it made me feel like I'd been on a journey.

And I'm very ambivalent about XIII, but I feel many of the faults it gets flagellated over are natural progressions of trends established in the much beloved X (and temporarily abated in XII), which is the lowest regarded of those I've completed.